| ▲ | bjackman 5 hours ago |
| Train crashes like this are _so_ rare. It's not as safe as flying but AFAICT in rich countries it's the same rough order of magnitude in terms of danger level. I don't have data but I would imagine crashes on these high speed lines (which always seem to be run at a higher level of professionalism than the general networks) are rarest of all. I don't think it's a good use of mental energy to plan for a crash like this. You're better off using your brain cycles on hygiene or not losing your luggage. |
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| ▲ | D_Alex 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| >It's not as safe as flying In France and Japan, HSR has had zero fatalities in the entire period of operation. In China, HSR had AFAIR one fatal crash, with 40 fatalities. Per passenger-mile, Chinese HSR is twice as safe as US air travel. |
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| ▲ | fredoralive 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | France has had one fatal crash on an LGV, but it was during initial line testing where some safety systems were bypassed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckwersheim_derailment | | |
| ▲ | littlestymaar 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | TIL. At first, when seeing it was in 2015 I was extremely surprised I didn't heard about it at the time. Then I saw the date: Nov 14th 2015, just the day after the ISIS terror attacks in Paris, France's 9/11. Of course we barely heard about a train crash at that time… | | |
| ▲ | pjerem 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | I remember this day because I worked in a company that made software for train networks. It did briefly made the news but not for long due to the terror attacks and also there wasn’t any passenger on this train, it was a train testing. In fact the story is even more tragic when you know that the day before, they also were too fast in the same turn and in the records you hear something like « few, that was close, better take care next time ». However, for sure this crash should have never happened but it only happened because they were testing the limits of both the train and the track. It’s literally like a test pilot crashing an airplane while testing all the limits : it should never happen but they are still there for it not to happen in commercial flights. |
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| ▲ | ThePowerOfFuet 32 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | >In France and Japan, HSR has had zero fatalities in the entire period of operation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckwersheim_derailment |
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| ▲ | SkiFire13 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| > I don't have data Most railway deaths in the EU are due to unauthorized people on the tracks or due to crossings. The actual number of passengers deaths has been really low in the past years. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php... |
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| ▲ | throw310822 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| > It's not as safe as flying In the EU it's safer than flying, with 0.5 deaths per 100 billion km/ passenger vs 3 deaths per 100 billion kms/ passenger. However, since an airplane flies at, let's say, six times the average speed of a train, the actual probability of dying during a 1-hour trip is almost 40 times more on a plane than on a train. |
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| ▲ | sillysaurusx 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Brain cycles aren’t a limited supply. Besides, you’ll get to feel a nice jolt of serotonin when you remember to sit backwards. > I would imagine crashes on these high speed lines (which always seem to be run at a higher level of professionalism than the general networks) are rarest of all If this crash is anything like the other ones, you might be surprised. Safety complacency tends to cause maintenance failures. Plus the low speed lines are less deadly since the total energy is proportional to velocity squared, and v is low. In other words, it might be more helpful to look at it as "if they’re run at a higher level of standards, it’s because they have to be". Statistically you’re probably right, but considering how many brain cycles we waste on non-essentials, it’s just as fun to waste them on this. That way you can start a nerdy conversation with your travel companions, and they can learn to travel without you next time. |
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| ▲ | crote 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | > Plus the low speed lines are less deadly since the total energy is proportional to velocity squared, and v is low. You're forgetting about the probability of a crash. The vast majority of train crashes is due to an impact with a vehicle on a railway crossing. However, high-speed rail is grade separated, so it doesn't have railway crossings, which means the main cause of crashes is fundamentally impossible. In other words: Regular rail has a high rate of crashes (with a small number of fatalities each) due to car/truck drivers screwing up. High-speed rail has a low rate of crashes (with a large-ish number of fatalities each) due to catastrophic failure of track & train equipment. | |
| ▲ | Dylan16807 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | > Brain cycles aren’t a limited supply. Sure they are. > Besides, you’ll get to feel a nice jolt of serotonin when you remember to sit backwards. I can also get that by remembering that I'm conquering a superstition and fitting my behavior closer to real risks. | |
| ▲ | lxgr 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Zero-risk bias at work. If it’s actually fun for you, don’t let anyone stop you, but I wouldn’t go as far as making it a confident general recommendation. |
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